Priest of the Church of Mysterious Words, Uryu Ryunosuke

Was Mystery, as an outside invader and enemy of the planet, possessed of great intelligence?

The answer was no.

Mystery was a phenomenon, a force of chaos. Some Mysteries possessed basic intelligence, but they lacked the complex thought processes of humans. Most had no more than the intelligence of lesser beasts.

Then, could Mystery ever acquire human-level intelligence?

The answer was yes.

Because this world was not short on human traitors!

The Church of Mysterious Words was a prime example.

It was a chaotic faction made up of lunatics who, out of fear, had developed a twisted worship of Mystery.

The church's leader claimed to have received a calling from the supreme Mystery's Will and been granted Mystery's blessing.

In truth, these people had indeed gained the power of Mystery. The core members each possessed one or two controllable Mystery objects, which they used to commit evil and spread fear and madness throughout the world.

In essence, they had been corrupted by Mystery and turned into Mystery objects. They could no longer be considered human.

They were simply controllable, which made them more dangerous than ordinary Mysteries.

Though the world at large knew little of this terrifying organization, all the major powers were aware of it. They had clashed with the church more than once.

Spurred on and inspired by this organization, the various nations had also realized that, terrifying as Mystery was, they could fight magic with magic. In other words, just like the Church of Mysterious Words, they could grant people the power to fight Mystery by having them master controllable Mystery objects.

Some time ago, the Holy Britannian Empire announced that it had mastered a new technology for fighting Mystery. In truth, this was what they meant, but the process was so horrifying and the casualties so high that Holy Britannia had kept the details under wraps.

Only a country like Holy Britannia, which could disregard the lives of its own people, would dare to be so bold. By comparison, the Flame Kingdom was much more cautious and did not dare to try it lightly.

Su Yun had learned all this through his authority.

And unlike others in the know, who thought the Church of Mysterious Words was merely a group of lunatics, he understood that they weren't just imagining that Mystery's Will had called to them. Mystery's Will truly existed.

It was faint and chaotic, but Mystery's Will did exist. In essence, it was similar to this world's World Consciousness—or rather, the World Consciousness had awakened because of the stimulus of Mystery's Will.

They were the big bosses of their respective sides.

However, both big bosses were unreliable, their thought processes hazy and immature.

Thus, the World Consciousness, utterly ignorant of human nature, had brought Su Yun here to be the Savior and crammed a whole pile of things into his body all at once—huge, numerous, and viscous—nearly making him burst.

As for Mystery's Will, it had sensed the devout faith of those lunatics in the Church of Mysterious Words and unconsciously responded to them.

In that moment, most of the lunatics were horrifically corrupted by Mystery's Will and transformed into twisted, grotesque things. Only five survived.

Yet, because of their corruption by Mystery, they had still become Mystery objects in human form, gaining an affinity with Mystery and the power to control Mystery objects.

Those five then became the foundation of the Church of Mysterious Words and built it into the dangerous, terrifying organization it was.

The World Consciousness had given Su Yun all this information, which was why he knew so much. But this was also all he knew. The members of the Church of Mysterious Words had once been human, so the World Consciousness had been able to perceive them. Once Mystery's Will had twisted their very existence into Mystery objects, however, the Planetary Will could no longer observe them.

So Su Yun knew nothing about the church's inner workings, what powers it possessed, or what had become of the original five.

So why bring up this church all of a sudden?

Because the Mystery that had suddenly shrouded Chiba City's wealthy district had been unleashed by the Church of Mysterious Words—and now, a man stood before Artoria!

Outside the Yukinoshita estate, Artoria gripped the Sword in the Stone and stared gravely at the man before her, who had arrived alongside the Mystery Domain.

The man had orange-red hair and looked to be around thirty. His face was clean, and he wore a cheerful smile that made you feel as if you were basking in a spring breeze. Clad in a thick blue robe, he looked mysterious, like one of those bizarre members of some strange church in a movie.

And that was exactly what he was—only this wasn't a movie. It was the real world.

He merely smiled without a word, his eyes fixed on Artoria. Though they were far apart and it was night, he seemed able to see her with perfect clarity.

He had come for Artoria!

He represented the side of Mystery, and had come to put an end to Artoria, who had become the light of hope for humanity!

The moment they saw the man, Baal and the members of the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad turned pale. Cold sweat broke out across their faces as they immediately raised their weapons and aimed at him.

Their emotions were plain to see: tension, fear, solemnity, disbelief.

Artoria noticed and immediately asked Baal, "Miss Baal, who is that man?"

Standing beside Artoria, Baal replied in a grave, hushed voice, "He's an internationally wanted criminal, the Church of Mysterious Words' Priest of Delusion—Uryu Ryunosuke!"

Artoria's expression tightened. As a member of the British royal family, she naturally knew about the Church of Mysterious Words. The notorious organization was loathed and feared by the leaders of every nation because its members possessed Mystery objects and used them to commit all manner of crimes.

Although these people were ordinary humans themselves, there was no doubt that possessing Mystery objects made them supernatural beings in some sense.

Of course, that was before someone like Artoria appeared. Compared with the supernatural beings shown in the Light Screen, the Church of Mysterious Words' members were merely a bunch of mortal lunatics with supernatural items—at least, that was true of the church's other members.

The original five, who had been transformed completely into Mystery creatures, were another matter. But since no country understood their true capabilities, people still viewed the Church of Mysterious Words as "a group of lunatics who had gotten lucky, gained control of Mystery objects, and abused their power."

Staring at the orange-haired man in the distance, Uryu Ryunosuke, Artoria asked in a low voice, "What Mystery does he control?"

Baal replied, "The Book of Falsehood. It lets him use language to manipulate other people's thoughts, imposing a forced 'persona' on them until they forget who they are and become convinced they're the personality he created."

"Uryu Ryunosuke has used the book to twist the personalities of many people. He likes targeting ordinary families, then watching their members slaughter one another. He calls it the finest art."

After a pause, she added, "Based on our assessment, Uryu Ryunosuke is a textbook antisocial personality. Every country has issued a warrant for his arrest."

At that, her expression grew even grimmer. "Also, the Church of Mysterious Words is suspected of possessing a special Mystery object that grants all its members a 'privilege' similar to Mystery's. Almost all weapons wielded by humans are ineffective against them. Only the sun and hydrogen bombs can inflict meaningful damage."

That was why Baal and the others, despite carrying firearms, looked so grave. It was also why the Church of Mysterious Words had remained active despite being hunted and suppressed by every nation.